Adoption Of Animal Traction Technology And Its Impact On Farmers In The Northern Province Of Sierra Leone

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the extent of adoption of animal traction technology and its impact on program farmers of the Sierra Leone Work Oxen Project. The study also explored the factors that hinder the expanded adoption of animal traction among program farmers and identified reasons for non-adoption of the technology by the non-program farmers. The specific objectives were: (1) to determine the extent of adoption among program farmers; (2) to determine the impact of adopting animal traction; (3) to identify the social and economic factors that hinder the expanded adoption of animal traction among program farmers; and (4) to identify reasons for non-adoption of animal traction by the non-program farmers. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested: (1) there is a relationship between the number of days animal traction was used per year and farmers' socio-economic characteristics; and (2) program and non-program farmers are different in terms of their socio-economic characteristics. Using a stratified sampling technique, 315 program farmers were randomly selected from a population of 1,775 farmers in five districts. The sample of 108 non-program farmers was selected based on the proximity of the subjects to program farmers. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics while both Pearson correlation and regression analysis were done to determine the relationship between total yearly adoption of animal traction and farmers' socio-economic characteristics. The one way analysis of variance was done to determine differences between program and non-program farmers in terms of their socio-economic characteristics. Data analysis revealed that program and non-program farmers were significantly different in terms of acreage cultivated, crop output per unit of land cultivated, hired labor, size of land parcel owned, annual net income, extension contact, adoption of innovations and recommended farm practices, family size and age. Yearly total use of animal traction was significantly correlated to acreage cultivated, annual crop output, hired labor, annual net income, access to arable land, number of oxen sets owned, number of farm operations performed, and years of working experience with oxen. The lack of medical support, insufficient labor, disease outbreaks, lack of credit and damage of neighborly property by animals emerged as the most frequently mentioned factors that have hindered the expanded adoption of animal traction by the program farmers. The study concluded with the following recommendations for project management and policy makers. (1) Introducing animal weeding among oxen users to ease labor bottlenecks that arise from larger acreage cultivation. (2) Bridging the present socio-economic gap between program and non-program farmers by encouraging a broader cross section of the target audience to participate in the animal traction program and at the same time address some of the problems identified in this study. (3) Supplementing needed capital to purchase animal traction technology through supervised credit programs. (4) Emphasizing the educational functions of extension rather than limiting effort on transfer of technology.